Give the Lord a shout. If you will rejoice ever more, give the Lord a loud shout! Because the shouting side is the winning side, give the Lord another shout. What a wonderful time to be in God’s presence. Hallelujah!
Father, we thank You; King of kings, we thank You; thank You for a beautiful day like this, thank You for the gift of life, thank You for calling all of us Your children, thank You for the salvation of our soul, thank You because You are the ancient of days, You are bigger than the biggest, You are higher than the highest, the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac, the Creator of the heaven and the earth.
We have come before You this morning that You please speak to us from the throne of grace, open our hearts, Lord, as Your word comes, let it heal, let it deliver, let it set free in the name of Jesus. Do that which You alone can do, glorify Jesus in our lives today, for we prayed in Jesus name. Hallelujah!
We want to appreciate the Pastor in Charge of the Region on behalf of myself and elated youth; we want to appreciate the pastorate of this church for the medium of expression they’ve given us today. We want to say thank you sir, the oil of God on your head will never run dry in Jesus name.
Today we are rounding up the Helps Weekend; in the Redeemed Christian Church of God; this is the weekend where we celebrate some departments, and the departments are majorly choir, (if you are blessed by their administration, shout another hallelujah!), we have the ushers, we have the prayer and we have the welfare departments.
Theme for this year is Empowered to Lift Others. Jesus wants us to be bearers of one another, then Paul in Galatians 6:2 says we should bear one another for this is the will of Christ, this is in fulfilling the law of Christ when we bear the burden of one another. Somebody in the secular world says that we rise by lifting others, and in the same vein when we lift up others, God is lifted up in our lives and He lifts us up individually and as departments. Amen.
The ministry of the choir is very powerful. There was a time in the Old Testament where God told King Jehoshaphat when he was faced with some enemies, He said you don’t need to fight, you don’t need to carry bows and arrows, all you need to do is put together your worshippers, and as they worship, God sent down destruction in the camp of the enemies.
That is why the choir ministration, worship, singing song, singing melodies in the Lord, hymns and song is what we should not take lightly because God inhabits in that ministry. Amen.
We also have the ministry of the ushers. Those are wonderful people where before we come they’ve arranged the chairs, they’ve dusted everywhere, they arranged us; you can imagine if the ushers are not in the church, everybody will just be sitting anyhow, there will be complaints everywhere, pandemonium everywhere. Let’s put our hands together for the ushers.
And we are reminded of what happened in Exodus 17:12 that when Moses was tired, Aaron and all carried his hands up; as much as the hands of Moses were up, God was giving them victory. Praise the Lord.
Thirdly, we have the ministry of the intercession, that is the prayer ministry. Those are brethren who go to pray for us, they are behind the scene always, as we are speaking now, some of them are praying for us, they are praying that this service will end well, they are praying that God will put miracles on the lap of everybody, they are praying that we will go out better than we came in. Praise the Lord. Let’s put our hands together for them.
And last but not the least, we have the ministry of the welfare, the welfare department. The welfare department are those that bear the burdens of people that are in need; there are some of us that we didn’t have jobs, we didn’t have anything to do but putting together certain programs, we joined and we were able to learn how to make different things, how to sew.
They send us to where we learn baking, they send us to where we learn cooking, they send us to where we can have our trade in hand, and some of us are CEOs of our companies now by reason of these people in the department. Let’s put our hands together.
So the welfare department and every other departments I have mentioned occupy strategic position in the church and we pray that the Almighty God will keep blessing them, keep expanding them and increasing them on all fronts in Jesus name.
So let’s go to the message for today. Today we are talking about Fulfilling Your Purpose: What is your identity? Jesus is a true and the only way to discover our purpose in life. A man that has no purpose is a dead man though he walks around but he’s a dead man.
And we are encouraged by the scripture in Ecclesiastes 12: 1, it says remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when you will say, I have no pleasure in these things; this tells us that timing matters in the place of destiny.
Imagine somebody who got to 80 years, 90 years and discover that he should have been XY, he should have gone to school; somebody who is in his 80 or 90 saying that oh he wants to start work, he wants to do this, it’s just too late. Or you can imagine somebody who feels oh I am 30 now, I’ve not gone to school, so it’s too late, I shouldn’t go to school again; so we should be mindful of the timing of our lives and what God has purposed for us to accomplish or to do in life.
That’s why Lamentation 3: 27 says it is good that a man bears the yoke of his youth; while you are young, carry your burden, while you are young, be desired and determined to do what you are supposed to do, what you are destined to do; while you are young, begin to plan for your future, and when we say plan now, we have ambition.
Ambition is when we begin to plan for ourselves, but when we talk about purpose, it means that we have put God’s factor in our ambition, then we will say what is God’s purpose for me? Our ambition may be different from what God is planning for us. Many people live their lives void of meaning, they are merely existing without any clear purpose; what we plan to achieve is ambition, but when the plans or designs for us are from God, then it becomes a purpose.
Then we talk about identity, what is your identity? Identity is who we are and our unique qualities. It’s about our personality traits and what distinguishes us from other people.When identity is lost, purpose is lost.
As sons and daughters of God, God has given us divine identity, who are we in Christ? Jesus said ye are the light of the world; in another platform, He said ye are the salt of the world, as light, you cannot be covered, can you put a light on the bushel and cover without the light coming? No. He said you are the light of the world.
Peter encouraging us in 1 Peter 2:9, he says that we are a chosen generation, (that is our identity), a royal priesthood, a holy nation, peculiar people, that we may show the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness. As many that are born again in our midst, God has called you out of darkness, He has called you into His marvelous light, we are the light of the world.
At a time, Apostle Paul thought he was doing well, he didn’t know that God has a better plan for him. His identity was to just live as a lawyer, prosecute the Christians, get accolades and awards from the Roman Empire; the more Christians he persecutes, the more accolades, the more awards he received from the Roman Empire, but God had a better purpose for his life, he needed to identify himself.
And when that purpose came, he confessed in Galatians 1: 15, talking to the Galatians that I may have done something wrong, but when it pleased God, He separated me from my mother’s womb and called me by
His grace. So if destiny is not timely discovered, it can be cut short, it can be abused but God has purposed that we have a destiny that grows, He will take us from one level of greatness to another level of greatness in Jesus name.
That is the plan of God that we’ll be in His plan, we will achieve purpose and destiny and we will keep growing and growing just like Jesus in Luke 2: 52. The Bible says about Jesus that He increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor of God and men; a man or a believer who is not growing is a concern to the society or is a concern to his parents, but some people, the only thing that is growing is their age, nothing more.
Just like when a child is not growing, it becomes a concern to the parents and they begin to move from one clinic to another clinic when a child is not growing. But by the grace of God, before we finish, God will give us the power to grow, to go forward, to move forward in our destiny in Jesus name.
To fulfill our purpose in life, we must be able to answer certain critical questions of life, and these questions shape our path. And what are these question? We shall be taking them one after the other, they are identity questions about who we are. And the first question is who am I? I’m sure at one time or the other, somebody would have asked him or herself that who am I?
Maybe you just sat down, look at what is happening to you, life has not been fair, life has not treated you well. You are in Nigeria and you are wondering why am I in Nigeria and who am I? Am I just a number?
Jesus put the same questions to His disciples in Matthew 16: 13-18, and when Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Phillippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And one of them said, somebody said you are John the Baptist: another person said somebody said you are Elias; another person said somebody said you are Jeremiah, another person said somebody even said that you are one of the prophets that have come in the past, maybe reincarnation.
And Jesus turned to the disciples and said you, who do you say I am? One of them, Simon Peter, said You are Christ, the Son of the living God; and Jesus said flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but God has revealed this to you. So just like Jesus pondered about His identity and He was happy when people understood His identity, so many of us should be able to explain our identity also in Christ as human being and as a person.
Today, many people strive to be someone that they are not, social media has not helped in this matter. Many people look at social media to reflect their lives; if this person is doing this, if this person has done this, therefore I should do this, and they begin to borrow money to impress people that are not looking at them, they begin to do fake things.
At a time they said that the in-thing in Nigeria is you fake it till you make it, that is not our portion. They said you must fake it, otherwise people will not see you, forgetting that that is not their identity, that is not what God has made them to be. Everybody should stay where God has made you, and as you keep pressing forward where God has made you, He will take you out of where you are and He will take you to where you should be.
People constantly measure themselves with one another with appearance; Bible says that they that compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. But we see ‘I want to belong, I am here, people must know that I am here, I must be like that man, I must be like that woman,’ at the end of the day they live a life of confusion, there is identity crisis.
Some people say I am a man but I have the heart of a woman, they want to be identified as women, meanwhile they are men. Some are men, they want to be women; some are women, they want to be men and they start doing all manners of things because they lack identity, they are confused about who they are.
But what has God said that we are? God has said that we are fearfully and wonderfully made; He said we are the light of the world. Tell yourself, I’m fearfully and wonderfully made, I’m a new creature in Christ, I’m God’s workmanship, I’m still God’s work in progress.
Isaiah 43:1 says that but now thus saith the Lord, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by your name; that is who we are. He said He has redeemed us, He formed us Himself, so don’t let any man confuse you about who you are, you are a child of God, you are formed by God.
When you find out what God has said about you, nothing else matters, nothing else will bother you; when you know that God has said you are His child, you are above, you are this, you are that, whatever anybody is saying, you don’t give attention to what they are saying. You know you are in the will of God, you are walking in the path of God, God will be there to ensure that you end well and you fulfill your purpose.
The Bible says though your beginning might be small, your latter end will surely be great. You might see yourself being small, you are in one room now, in that small room, begin to do what great men do, begin to cook yourself, begin to tarry in the place of prayer, begin to expand your horizon, begin to get more certification, study more, learn more, or if you are doing apprenticeship, do it to the best of your ability. Someday that one room will be too small for you and God will cause you to emerge in Jesus name.
So that place you are is not your limit, but who you are is to be CEO, is to be a great evangelist, is to be a great man for Christ. That is who you are.
The next question is where am I from? We should be asking ourselves, am I from Anambra? Am I from Imo? Am I from Abakaliki? Am I from Ijebu? Am I from this? Yes, when they ask you to write, I am from this, but as a child of God, begin to tell yourself, I am from above through Enugu, I am from above through Imo. Let that be your orientation.
The Bible says he that is above is above all; he that is of the earth is earthly. You want to be earthly? No. But Jesus said, he that is above is above all, and we know that promotion comes not from the east, from the west, from the south, but from above. So if you want to be part of those that will always claim that they are from above, have a mentality of a winner. The mentality of a winner in Christ is that we are from above.
About John, the Bible says there was a man sent from God, which means that John too was from above. Yes, we have found ourselves in Nigeria, we will not be limited by what is happening in Nigeria because our origin is from above. Let that be our mentality that our origin is from above, so when they say there is scarcity, for me, I am from above; when they say there is no job, for me, I’m from above; when they say there is security issues, it will not come near me because I am from above.
If we don’t understand the issue of our identity, where we came from, we will be confused. Nathaniel wanted to confuse Phillip; when Jesus emerged, Philip called Nathaniel, he said come and see, and Nathaniel said can anything good come out of Nazareth? Jesus was from Nazareth and Philip called Nathaniel to come and see Jesus, and Nathaniel said can anything good come from Nazareth?
Nazarene are known not to have long impact, like Samson, he didn’t really last long and that was what pattern they put around Nazarene. So you might be here, they say in your family the people don’t live to succeed, the men don’t live up to 50, in your family the women don’t marry on time, in your family they don’t live to have children, but today you would go back and tell them you are exempted. If you are exempted, shout a loud amen!
Nathaniel said can anything good come out of Nazareth? And he said come and see. Today they will call people to come and see you because of the glory of God in you in Jesus name.
If you are from the west, they call you a westerner; from the north, a northerner; if you are from above what do they call you? Okay, you can choose to call yourself as long as you have that mentality and you have that confession that you are not of here though you are passing through here. Just like if you are going to Canada and you have a transit stop in the UK, your destination is not UK but you just stop by, so your destination is not really here, you are from above.
John 3:2, the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with by him. That is still a testimony to Jesus ministry that Jesus came from God.
The third identity question, why am I here? I’m sure if I ask some of us that if you are to come back (if there is anything like that, though there is nothing) to this world, will you come to Nigeria? I’m sure some people have said no, so the question is why are you here? Why are you in Nigeria? Why has God made you to be here? Why are you in CTL? Why are you a member of this church? Why are you a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God? Why are you on earth? Where are you in Nigeria?
John 18:37, the same question came to Jesus; Pilate therefore said unto him, art thou a king then? Jesus answered, thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, (He said) for this reason to come and die for the remission of our sin, that is why He came into the world.
Hebrews 10:7 says then lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God; the will of God for Christ is to come and redeem us and save us. So the question for us is why am I here? Am I here just o be born, attend primary school, go to secondary school, university or polytechnic, learn trade, start working, marry, die, is that all? No.
You are not here just because you want to grow old and die one day, but you are here for a reason, you are here to fulfill purpose. Tell your neighbor you are here to fulfill purpose, and you will do great exploit in Jesus name.
We are not here to be victims of economic crisis or security issues, we were born for a reason. You may be born by mistake, you know some people who are born by mistake – good mistakes, the parents have finished having children, suddenly another one came after 10 years of the last one, they say this one we didn’t plan; or some, the parents were not married and they just have a child, but the fact that they gave birth to you, you are special, you are not here by mistake, God has a reason for you and you will accomplish that purpose in Jesus name.
So we should begin to ask ourselves why am I here? We should be able to answer that question. I ask myself questions as per what if Daddy Adeboye was not born, how will there be a Redeemed Christian Church of God that I will meet one day? Maybe God has a better plan.
What about if the inventors of aeroplane were not born, what would have happened? The Wright brothers. What about if the inventor of this microphone was not born, what would have happened? Tell yourself, what if I was not born? What about if you were not born? Maybe there would have been a gap somewhere.
Some people’s destinies are tied to your life, that may be why you are born, you are invaluable. Some people might call you black sheep but your identity is changing this morning in Jesus name. You will change your world, what do you need to do? If you are like Elijah, continue to pray where God has put you and very soon you will emerge. If you are like Abraham who keep trusting God, who keep obeying God, continue because God will make you wealthy and the destiny of nations will be tied to you in Jesus name.
If you are Esther, continue to tarry in the place of intercession for the people of God, someday God will use you to deliver the whole nation, God will use you to deliver Nigeria. There might be the next president maybe in the next 10 years, 5 years, four years here, who knows?
Steven and Philip, they were called in the to the kitchen, come and help us to cook, come and be deacons that will be helping us to cook, but with much perseverance they saw themselves, they were asking why am I here? But with time, with consistency, with prayers, diligence, God took them from that kitchen and took them to a bigger place where they started preaching to nations, doing miracles. Praise the Lord!
Then the fourth question, what can I do? God has given everyone of us gift and talent, He has given some of us talent. Matthew 25: 13 – 15, 10 talent, five talent, two talents, God has given you a gift; if you look at your hand very well, you will see something that you know how to do.
I have a niece who told me that she does not know how to sell; if you tell her to sell, to do small business by the side, but to write exam is her specialty, she’s in the medical field, but she said she loves to read and write exams, I’ve never seen such a human being, but give her to sell pencil, she can’t. So there’s something that is in your hand; some people, it is how to sew; some people, it is how to sing; some people, it is how to do one thing or the other that makes you unique from other people. Begin to develop it. Some of us, it is to be professors, stay there, develop it, work on it and very soon you will emerge.
But many youths now, they don’t want to do anything, they prefer to beg like almajiri, (some of us in the north you know what I’m talking about), they hate to work, they just want to beg, they feel if I beg brother A today, brother C tomorrow, I go to another church brother, I’ve gotten a salary already not knowing that they are undoing themselves There’s always something in our hand, God has given every man something to hold, something to develop, nobody is created to beg.
John 4:34, Jesus said, My meat is to do the will of him who sent me; John 5:17, He said, My Father worketh hitherto, and I’m still working. Paul said in working, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me; in 2 Kings 4:1 & 2, Elisha was asking the widow that was in debt, the husband died and left debt for her and said what do you have? She said this little thing is what I have, just a small jar and oil. Elijah said is enough, and that little thing that the woman had was enough all through the famine period. So that little thing you think is nothing, begin to work on it, tomorrow you’ll be more than sufficient in Jesus name.
So let’s go back and begin to think what is that little thing in my hand? What is that thing that I can develop? What is in my hand and ask God to help you. The cure for shame is competence, once you are competent in that thing, you will emerge.
Joseph was like that, at a time Joseph was asked to interpret the dream of the cup bearer in prison, he didn’t see himself as a prisoner, he interpreted, nothing happened. Just like somebody is saying, I have done this, I have done that, I have not seen any profit, he was asked to interpret the dream of the butler, nothing happened. Somebody is saying I have tried last year, I have tried two years ago, I can’t see any profit, I’m not moving forward, I’m not staying again.
Joseph stayed there, one day he was asked to come and interpret the dream of the king and that was what gave him his miracle. So don’t give up, be competent in what you are doing, keep working on it and very soon God will send help to you. When God wants to help a man, He blesses the work of His hand, so something must be in your hand, you should have something doing.
It causes strategic relationship just like Lot meet Abraham and Ruth will meet Boaz. So in what you are doing, someday God will cause a strategic relationship, somebody will identify your unique gift and will tell another person and they will seek for you, we should not give up easily.
Let’s pray for a staying power, a staying power that will help us to tarry incompetence, effectiveness. Even in prayers, the Bible says that the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man; so even in prayer, we are told that we must even tarry there and pray more and be effective in prayer. Praise the Lord.
There is a staying power that is required, God will give to you in Jesus name. The anointing of God will rest upon your gift in the name of Jesus. So let’s identify our gift, let’s develop it, if you find yourself in a place where your gift is not appreciated, begin to pray for God to relocate you to where it will be appreciated.
In rounding up now, we have talked about the first question which is who am I? Where am I from? The third one, why am I here? The fourth one, what can I do? Then the last question is where am I going? When this life is over, when you have achieved all that you think you should achieve, all the certificates, you have taken all the accolades, the question is posed to us in 1 Corinthians 15: 19, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable, that is we should begin to think about life after now.
Some people have answered the four questions but they’ve not been able to answer the last question and that last question is for all. If you have not answered any question or you think you don’t need to answer any question, the last question must be answered whether we like it or not. There are also people who say it must be answered.
One certainty that all men must face in life on earth is that this earth will come to an end. Whether Christ returns first or we depart in the flesh, the rich and the poor, males and females, we will all go through the process of death someday, death is an equalizer, is a great equalizer. So if all we have accumulated so far, physical achievement all ends here, then we should begin to prepare our mind that where do I go after now?
Mark 8:36 says, what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his soul? Where will I spend eternity? That is a question that we should begin to think about, when all these worldly desires are gone, where will I spend eternity? Today, God wants us to think about it.
Let’s bow down our heads as we begin to pray, as we begin to think about it. Where will I spend eternity? Where will I go from here? When all these are over, there is a song that says, If all I have is Jesus, I have something more than gold. I will tell it to the world. Jesus is more than gold.
If all you know you have Jesus, then your eternity is guaranteed, you are living in Christ. Your eternity is guaranteed.
[Music]
[Altar call]
Shall we please be up standing as we take this prayer. Let’s pray and say Father, please heal me today, heal me emotionally, heal my destiny today, help me to recover all. Father, help me to recover all, help me to recover all that I have lost.
If there is anywhere you have lost anything, begin to pray that God will help you to recover, God will help you to recover all in the name of Jesus. You will recover all in the name of Jesus.
Ask that the Almighty God will help you. Father, we ask that You will help us; Father, we ask that You give us speed of accomplishment; Father, help us, Lord, glorify Yourself in our lives. We ask oh God that our life shall not be a waste; we ask oh God that in Your kingdom on earth and in heaven we will not be found missing; we ask oh God that Your beauty will cover us, as many that are hidden, as many that are hidden by the battles of life, we ask that Your light will shine upon them. We ask oh God that You make us light of the world, we ask oh God that You make us salt in the world.
We ask oh God You will lift up our head, we ask oh God that we shall be above only, any power that attempts to bring us down be destroyed in Jesus name. As much as we are here, Father, we’ll go in the power of the Almighty, we’ll return in testimony, we’ll do well, we’ll do great, we’ll prosper in the name of Jesus.
Thank You Lord, blessed be Your holy name, for we prayed in Jesus name.
